Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society - current issue

Online Resources

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:45:49 PST

Editorial Statement

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:45:50 PST

Transforming work: new forms of employment and their regulation

McDowell, L., Christopherson, S. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:45:50 PST

Subjective employment insecurity around the world

Green, F. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:45:50 PST

I consider the concept of employment insecurity (EI) and provide new evidence for 1997 and 2005 for many countries with widely differing institutional contexts and at varying stages of development. There are no grounds for accepting that workplaces were going through a sea change in EI. Workers in transitional economies and developing economies worried the most about insecurity. Insecurity tended to be greater for women, for less-educated and for older workers. However, these patterns vary across country groups, in ways that are only sometimes explicable in terms of their known institutional characteristics. In general, subjective EI tracks the unemployment rate.

Flexicurity as a moderator of the relationship between job insecurity and psychological well-being

Burchell, B. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:45:50 PST

Flexicurity has been heralded as the solution to simultaneously maintain the well-being of employees through employment security while allowing employers to benefit from flexibility. This paper examines one of the claimed benefits that countries with flexicurity policies will reduce the stress on employees who experience job insecurity. More specifically, it is argued that more generous unemployment benefits along with active labour market policies to facilitate rapid re-employment reduces the anxiety associated with insecurity. Analyses of two international data sets found little evidence for this moderation of the link between insecurity and well-being in countries that are assumed to be exemplars of flexicurity. The economic rationality behind these claims is questioned, and a psychological approach to job insecurity is suggested as an alternative.

Institutional regimes and employee influence at work: a European comparison

Gallie, D. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:45:50 PST

Employee's ability to exercise influence over their work tasks has long been seen as a critical aspect of the quality of work. Using comparative representative surveys, the paper examines how well the contrasting power resource and production regime theoretical perspectives account for the empirical differences between countries – taking Denmark, Finland, Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden as paradigmatic cases of different regime types. It examines individual task discretion, collective team decision-making and consultative influence through management. It reveals the distinctively high level of influence at work of employees in the Nordic countries, a pattern that is most consistent with power resources theory.

Less than adequate: regulating temporary agency work in the EU in the face of an internal market in services

Vosko, L. F. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:45:50 PST

This article analyzes the Directive on Temporary Agency Work (2008) in the face of a new internal market in services in the European Union. I argue that the adoption of this Directive is paradoxical: on the one hand, it breaks the lengthy stalemate characterizing workers’ and employers’ efforts to craft a framework agreement. On the other hand, the compromise reached marks a setback for workers’ protection because the Directive qualifies equal treatment and its adoption fuels pressure to include services provided by temporary work agencies within the Services Directive (2006).

Employed under different rules: the complexities of working across organizational boundaries

Rubery, J., Marchington, M., Grimshaw, D., Carroll, M., Pass, S. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:45:50 PST

A major element of the transforming work debate is the spread of complex organizational forms. Hierarchical and strictly bounded employing organizations are said to be being replaced by fluid networks of organizations, working in partnership to achieve shared goals. Case studies of four co-production networks cast doubts on the extent to which employment hierarchies have lost salience. Inter-organizational relations are found to result not in the absence of hierarchies but in their overlapping, intertwining and fragmentation. These interactions raise problems of consistency and fairness within the employment relationship, particularly related to distributive justice, procedural justice and career development.

Trade unions and contingent labour: scale and method

Heery, E. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:45:50 PST

In recent years, there has been a trend for trade unions to attempt to represent contingent workers, including agency staff, workers on fixed-term contracts and the self-employed. This article seeks to explain and characterize this development in the UK. The main conclusions are that contingent workers require an "upscaling" of union representation, beyond the workplace, and that methods other than collective bargaining are more important for advancing the interests of this group. These methods include attempts to regulate labour markets unilaterally, provide union services and make use of employment law.

Religion at work: the role of faith-based organizations in the London living wage campaign

Wills, J., Datta, K., Evans, Y., Herbert, J., May, J., McIlwaine, C. — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:45:50 PST

This paper makes a contribution to debate about the intervention of religious organizations in matters of industrial relations, labour markets and public policy in relation to work. We draw on new empirical data to explore the involvement of low-paid migrant workers in faith organizations and relate this to the ways in which faith organizations have begun to engage in political campaigns to challenge the nature of work and immigration control. Using the example of London Citizens’ living wage and regularization campaigns, the paper explores the basis on which faith organizations can provide the space for social and political solidarity among and beyond immigrants in low-paid jobs in London today.

Referees 2008-2009

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:45:50 PST